CyanogenMod 7 on Galaxy Ace

Back when my phone was new in the dev scene, around May 2011, there was just 1 custom ROM (VillianROM) which I played around with and ended up screwing up my phone and faced service center woes. Finally gathered up the courage to return to the flashing scene, after having dozens of ROMs out there for my phone now, and having gotten bored of the same old look and feel past few months.

CM 7 Galaxy Ace bootscreen animation

CyanogenMod is one of the most popular ROMs out there for Android phones, and it being currently in RC stage for Galaxy Ace, I decided to try it out. Kind of pleased with the smooth window animations and power features available; however most excited about the Theme Chooser, which is one step ahead of theming simply your launcher, by applying new looks to your status bar/its icons/keyboard/and the rest of the system UI (best part being any MDPI CM 7 theme downloadable out there will work, nothing device specific I suppose). Quite a few bugs around the ROM for now, since it isn’t yet a final version. I’m having to mess around with the system files then and now. But surely try it out if you’re a rooted user.

How to install CM 7 on Galaxy Ace

I don’t intend to make this a detailed walkthrough post, but in case the snapshots tempt you, here’s a little setup in brief, assuming you’re an advanced user.

You must be on a stock or custom Gingerbread ROM. (eg. KPE, DDKQ6, etc.)

Boot up CWM and backup your current ROM first (Make sure you have enough space on SD card ~300MBs else backup will be broken). Next, clear data/factory reset/cache. Install zip from SD Card and select CyanogenMod. After it is installed, download FM Radio Fix and flash it, if you require FM Radio.

Reboot phone and enjoy CM 7!

UPDATE to CM 7.2

If you’ve already installed the above CM 7.1, here’s the update to it.

128 Responses to CyanogenMod 7 on Galaxy Ace

hey i’m using official rom 2.3.4 and i would like to know are there any bugs in dis rom or not..??
and if not would you help me to flash to cynagenmod in my ace..
thanks nishant ur screens are awesome..

This isn’t an official CM7 port, it is done by some enthusiastic developers so not final version yet. However feel free to try it out, as I haven’t encountered any bugs really, except WiFi and Data weren’t working once, I just reflashed and it worked. Follow my steps above from the post, and if you still want help with any, let me know. Good luck!

ROM Manager is a NO NO for Galaxy Ace. Stay AWAY from it. It will completely brick your phone beyond recovery.. leaving the only way possible would be for you to visit your service center. However don’t mention you messed around with it, just got screwed on its own. Else your warranty will be void. Just try if this works however: Remove battery, keep power + volume + home keys pressed, and slide in the battery while they’re still pressed. If this doesn’t work either, then service center time.

Yes you can backup. Read step 4 above. And don’t worry, warranty isn’t void as long as you don’t hand over a phone which has traces of flashing or rooting. Give them either something that doesn’t boot at all, or the stock ROM.

Oh, so you managed to unbrick it? Cool. GPRS not working is not a problem, just manually set the Access point. And if Google apps aren’t working, there’s a patch thing called GApps I’ve heard. Check it out.

Hey I flashed my phone with this rom…
It works great… Only 2 problems..
1 swype won’t work…
2 google maps not working….
I can live without swype as it has lots of alternatives such as shapewriter n touchpal…
However, google maps is required is there a way to make google maps work properly?
One more.thing… The backup I.made using clockwork dint restore back my stock rom… I had to use odin hence I lost all my apps n settings… Can clockwork restore the stock or always bricked and only odin is the option?
I would love to use this rom but really need maps… Please help me

As for backup, always batch backup apps + data using Titanium Backup PRO, so you can easily restore it after a data wipe. I’m not sure about Clockwork’s stock ROM backup not working, as I haven’t yet tried to restore that backup myself. But yeah you needn’t worry about that if you use Titanium Backup PRO.

I was also a fan of Swype earlier, but I discovered Gingerbread keyboard far better, and because my hands get moist sometimes and I am not able to swipe well, tapping keys with autocorrect feels better, and Gingerbread keyboard has one of the best layouts and feel. However, if you really need Swype, back it up using Titanium from stock ROM then restore it back in custom ROM.

Install it from CWM recovery. Hope that solves the problem, because otherwise I haven’t yet encountered this issue so cannot suggest much. However I have read that the latest GMaps version does force close and all, so that could be the issue.

Okay I just checked, doesn’t seem like it flips. But that’s the closest I’ve found as of yet, and also seen people suggesting the same, so if you got the time then try it out. The weather animations however are very neat!

Check out the update to CM 7.2 I posted above. Also, have you tried the allinone RAM script MOD? http://bit.ly/sUw8gO Read that it speeds up performance a bit while multi-tasking. Can’t suggest much except just try out whatever works for you. Battery life for me has always been low on Ace. During continuous usage, battery drains off in 4-5 hours.

Hi,
your blog is very helpful. I hv installed the update cm 7.2. but i want to overclock my ace. Can u suggest me how to overclock coz cm 7 does not provide further frequencies other than 800max or 122min.
thanks!!

There is an OC kernel you can use which supports overclocking. However I don’t think it’s worth yet since the most people have gone is around 830MHz beyond which the phone starts acting or heating up, and it could damage your phone. Better to be safe and stick to 800 for now.

Using custom ROMs is simply done because stock ROMs have a lot of unwanted apps like TouchWiz in Samsung, and others that take up space. CyanogenMod is one of the most popular ones and you can check out features here: http://www.cyanogenmod.com/about/features Mostly they’re all changes in the internal system, but extra features like Themes support and DSP Equalizer are provided. Just try out everything and if you like then use it else revert back to the stock ROM, which I doubt you will. The best I like is Themes support. However, only proceed if you are an advanced user, and are aware of flashing and fixing things in case something goes wrong.

I am facing some problems after updating to cm7.2. My proximity sensor does not work and yesterday the vibrating motor also stopped working. please help..
Also i want to by a tablet, m thinkin’ of ideapad k1. Is it a good choice.
Thanks!!

Yeah, sorry to not inform you in advance that proximity sensor doesn’t work yet on the upgrade. I’ll re-post here when a solution comes up. Not sure about the vibrating part.. Are you sure nothing was disabled from the settings? Haptic feedback, etc.?

Thanks for replying. I restarted the phone 2-3 times and then the vibration problem was solved but I hv one issue. When the mobile is on sleep mode, the two capacitive touch buttons glow up all by themselves without any reason and it keeps on happening. What I thought was may be the cpu was in use. But could you provide some feedback for the same. The screen remains off when this happens. I read about the K1, the unlocking problem will be solved after an update, and the fresh stock with 3G will be available the next month, so m thinking to go for it.
Thanks!!

I suppose then the K1 seems good enough when compared with Archos and SGT 10.1 And yeah, that’s another bug in 7.2, along with the proximity sensor, the BLN buttons also light up randomly. Same is with me. I guess something or the other will come up soon to fix it, maybe a patch or another upgrade.

Thanks For the Reply dude, Did that and got back to (Russian) gingerbread. tried re-flashing and worked like a charm, now running 7.1
7.2 has Rom manager in, it is it safe, and also it seems to have not got the live wallpapers menu.
radio and Bluetooth seems to be working fine in 7.1.
Sorry for many questions but i am a n00b to flashing.

Ah yeah quite a lot of things are missing in 7.2, I suppose it was better to stay on 7.1. And I’m not a pro either in flashing, but I have the same question about Rom Manager when I noticed it in the app drawer, since it’s kinda scary for us Ace users hehe. I suppose you don’t need ROM manager anyway, just do the upgrade business in CWM and stay safe.

Currently running 7.1 and its Awesome.
i am encountering some problems here
-adw launcher force closes frequently now
-also about gapps should i update from zip or install it from zip. to not loose any data

Ah, I’ve not had problems with ADW. But if you are, then I suppose just flash the ROM again or else switch to a different launcher like GO. The ‘install’ and ‘update’ options in CWM are the same, just that update only flashes a file named update.zip, and install lets you flash any file named differently. Only flash GApps if you are having problems with any of the Google apps. And data is all online right, all your Google-related, so you won’t lose in any case.

I suggest not to move on to 7.2 yet, as the proximity sensor isn’t working, FM radio app is missing, the backlit buttons light up randomly when phone is on standby, and I don’t see any improvements in battery either. Stay with 7.1 if everything is working good enough. And yeah, there are a lot of ICS themes in the Market for Theme Chooser. I’m using ICS in few screenshots, and LunarUI in others.

Yup, that’s the procedure. And about reverting to stock, hope you are acquainted with ODIN because I have heard restoring back the CWM ROM backup hasn’t worked for few people, so then you might have to use ODIN to revert back. And always backup everything with Titanium Backup PRO first, so you need not go installing every app from the market again, and retain old data.

Yeah Will Do That Using Titanium Backup pro..
But Are You Sure Bout No Bugs..???
And Can U give me some more screenshots..
and i hav also heard the gapps are not available on them..?? is it true..??
and wat is zip fix for..??
i tried to find you on facebook but i cant please add me so that i can chat wid u while flashing..
thanks again..

Sorry, my Facebook is currently deactivated for reasons, but you can add me on Gtalk ‘nishmudkip’.
About bugs, not really, and you can always revert back to stock ROM so no harm trying. Zip fix is for a little system tweaks that were done after CM 7.1 was out. Google apps work fine usually, but if they don’t, then you can flash GApps.zip given above. Screenshots.. well the ones shown above should be enough, there isn’t anything more new.

Yeah, flash back KPH, you’ll find it on samfirmware, using ODIN. I’ve heard as well that Nandroid restore doesn’t work. Well I don’t face that many hangs, yeah a few slowdowns, but I have Advanced Task Killer widget to kill all the unwanted processes whenever needed.

I’ve just tried VillianROM, which is very old now, Sunday and CM 7. Yet to try the other ones though since I find it too much of work to restore back apps and data all the time, and usually just check what the thread replies have to say about it.

Yes, but firmwares like KPH are full packages i.e. they contain the entire ROM. Whereas ROMs for India like DDKC or DDKQ are one-package files, just containing upgrade.. so usually they don’t work if directly flashed over something else. But yeah, try it directly if you want to save time, just flash KQ6. If things don’t work out, then do it the KPH way.

Yeah I did mention that in one of the comments above, that Update is to flash a file named update.zip on your SD card, whereas Install is used if the file is named something else and in another folder.

Can you please guide me how to go back to stock rom 2.3.4 from cyanogenmod 7.1. i have galaxy ace, and i updated it to cynogenmod 7.1. i tried it through ODIN 4.38 but it is not recognising my phone. is there any other version of ODIN for cynogen7.1. please help me.
Thanks in advance.

I m using ICS .. via this method can i get back on Cyogen mod 7.1 ?i read the article , but once my phone is already rooted before installing ICS .. so wats the reason to root again as the ROM is already being customd …. and why shoud i try 2.3.4 ?

hi dude. CM7.1 works fine but the bluetooth wont receive any files anymore. Also google maps aren’t working. I tried restoring my old maps backup through titanium but it still doesn’t work. crashes each time. I think I need to flash the gapps file through recovery to fix it right? but what about the bluetooth issue? any help?